What is the best way to negotiate a price with a caterer?

Its for my wedding, Ive never done this before and need advice on talking them down a little on the price while being respectful and not being demanding or trying to rip them off.What is the best way to negotiate a price with a caterer?
tell them that you are pricing a few other ones, then get their price. come back later and tell them they were a bit higher than the others, can they come down on price or throw in a cheese tray, fruit display, cake, or some other incentive to go with them. all caterers will bend knowing they may lose the party. with the economy, ALL will negotiate for your businessWhat is the best way to negotiate a price with a caterer?
I recommend that you come up with a short list of the criteria of what you want in terms of catering for your special day.



Try to remember when you're negotiating, that this is a special day that you will want to have fond memories of for the rest of your life. If your number one goal is to get the cheapest price .... well ...you know what they say ...sometimes you get what you pay for. There will always be a caterer that will cut prices to win but that doesnt necessarily mean a good thing.



Here is what I recommend you do;



- write down a budget range that you can afford

- review price ranges from other brides and online resources

here is a post I wrote on that topic

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/answer?qid=20100316055740AAGNE9u

- write down the type of food, venue, and catering you would like

- outline the type of food for each course



Provide the information to 3 short-listed Caterers and ask them to price it out. Ask for references and request a reference when something went wrong - this way you can question the client on how the Caterer responded to the problem.



This method will ensure you are comparing apples for apples. Let the Caterers know that you are sending it to 2 other Caterers so you will ensure they sharpen the pencils right out of the gate.



Review the responses, talk to the references - ask them if they are still using the caterer or will book for their next event again. Meet with the Caterer to get a feel for how your special day will be handled. They should provide an Event Co-ordinator that will be your go-to person for the whole time. Make sure you appoint someone (family or friend) outside of the Wedding party whose responsibility will be to manage everything with the Caterer - your job is to just enjoy your special day.



If you would like some examples of meal suggestions and accompanying prices, you can view our suggestions here;



http://www.tkscatering.com/weddings/packages





Here is a website that outlines self catering vs outsource catering ideas and even includes a spreadsheet budgeting tool I found that may help you as well; (I did not use the budget spreadsheet myself so not sure how accurate it is but it may help with some basic budgeting guidelines)

http://www.ellenskitchen.com/bigpots/plan/wedding.html





Congratulations on your engagement and I wish you the very best for your special day. Just remember to plan well and then forget about all the details on your wedding day and just take it all in and enjoy %26amp; remember each and every moment. Let someone else sweat the details and dont get upset if something dosnt go as planned (everything wont go perfectly as planned believe me). If you get upset, it will just ruin your day.



cheers .... Chef Ted